Credit servicing firm Pepper Advantage Ireland has announced a variable rate mortgage cut for its 10,000 customers.
The company said the latest rate adjustments, ranging from 0.15 of a percentage point to half a point, reflect ongoing changes in the interest rate environment.
“As with previous cuts, this reduction will apply primarily to customers who saw the highest increases since July 2022,” it said.
Pepper said letters would be sent to customers this month with reductions taking effect from October.
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It said the reduction would bring the average rate across all its variable rate loan books to approximately 5.3 per cent, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than when rates – at an European Central Bank (ECB) level – began rising in July 2022.
The company noted that the loans held by Pepper Advantage “come from a range of different loan books, originated at different times and different rates”.
“Pepper Advantage has hundreds of different variable rates and not a single rate,” it said. “With this reduction, Pepper has implemented all interest rate decreases for variable rate customers, aligning with reductions by the ECB.”
Pepper revealed last month that more than 13 per cent of loans it manages on behalf of non-banks that are not active lenders have been refinanced since the start of 2024.
The firm said this has been done either by borrowers switching to another lender or selling their home, often to buy another one funded by a mortgage elsewhere.
Many customers of nonbank lenders managed by Pepper have been unable to refinance elsewhere due to their poor repayment track records.
The firm was in the headlines in 2022 and 2023 for charging some of the highest mortgage rates. It has reduced rates since the ECB started cutting official rates.
The European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates steady for a second straight meeting when rate-setters convene later this week.
